DragonFly BSD Digest » Bookshttp://www.dragonflydigest.com
A running description of activity related to DragonFly BSD.Tue, 03 Mar 2015 17:29:16 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1Book release party in NYC tomorrow nighthttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/03/03/15698.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/03/03/15698.html#commentsTue, 03 Mar 2015 17:29:16 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15698NYCBUG is having a book release event for “The Design and Implementation of the FreeBSD Operating System” with George Neville-Neil, one of the authors. It’s happening tomorrow night, at the Stone Creek Bar & Lounge: 140 E 27th St. George Neville-Neil will be talking about DTrace, and there’s copies of the book to buy/win.
]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/03/03/15698.html/feed0In Other BSDs for 2014/01/24http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/24/15460.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/24/15460.html#commentsSat, 24 Jan 2015 14:55:06 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15460Short week this week, mostly due to a lack of interesting source changes.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/24/15460.html/feed1Book review: FreeBSD Essentials: Storage Masteryhttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/19/15463.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/19/15463.html#commentsMon, 19 Jan 2015 19:15:49 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15463Normally if I talk about a filesystem here, I talk about Hammer, which is not a surprise. However, I often read and review Michael W. Lucas’s BSD-oriented books, and he has written FreeBSD Mastery: Storage Essentials. I’m reviewing it here because it’s obviously BSD-related, and some portions are directly relevant for other BSDs.

Disk setup and layout isn’t something that normally consumes much attention past the initial install – until something goes wrong, or until a system needs a new configuration. Installers tend to hide that initial layout, anyway.

Vendors take advantage of this. Much of the specialized storage vendors out there are selling you a computer with disks in it – something you can build yourself. You don’t (or at least I hope you don’t) buy a firewall when you can do the same with pf or ipfw; the same goes for disk management.

There’s plenty of coverage of GEOM, GELI, GDBE, and the other technologies specific to FreeBSD. I for one did not know how GEOM worked, with its consumer/producer model – and I imagine it’s complex to dive into when you’ve got a broken machine next to you. If you are administering FreeBSD systems, especially ones that deal with dedicated storage, you will find this useful. He doesn’t go into ZFS, but he does hint at a book on it later…

If you’re not a FreeBSD user, there’s also material that’s common to any BSD – an explanation of disk architecture, of UFS, RAID, and SMART. Knowing what SMART is and does is essential, in my opinion. You may be able to cobble this material together from other sources online, but it’s packaged nicely here, with Lucas’s easy writing style.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2015/01/19/15463.html/feed4Book Review: The Book of PF, 3rd editionhttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/29/15312.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/29/15312.html#commentsMon, 29 Dec 2014 14:39:53 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15312I’m going to dive right in with an anecdote: As is normal for anyone in systems administration, I’m busy at work. I’ve been short an employee for some time, and I brought in a managed service provider to do some work. This included a revamping of the network equipment and layout, as it has been growing organically rather than in a planned fashion.

I received the formal assessment from the provider a few weeks ago, and it mentioned that we were using a non ICSA-certified firewall: pf, in the form of pfSense. This was accompanied by some rather drastic warnings about how open source was targeted by hackers! and implied that ICSA certification was a mark of quality rather than a purchasable certification. All bogus, of course.

The reason I’m starting this review with this little story is to note that while open source has become well-accepted for system and application software, there’s still a lot of people that expect commercial hardware to be exclusively handling data once it leaves the server. That’s been valid for a long time, but software like pf represents a realistic option, or even an improvement, over many commercial and proprietary options. Since pf exists in one form or another on all the BSDs, it’s a tool you should be at least somewhat familiar with.

Peter N. M. Hansteen has written about pf first online, and then in printed form, for some time. The Book of PF is in its third edition, and that’s what I have to read. (Disclosure: No Starch Press gave me the book free, without requirements)

The book is excellent, and easier to read than I expected for a book about network processing. It can be read in linear form, as it takes the reader from simple to more complex network layouts. It works as a reference book, too, as it focuses on different tools around pf and what they are used for.

It covers the different pf version in OpenBSD, NetBSD, and FreeBSD, and DragonFly gets at least a partial mention in some portions of the book. For example, OpenBSD recently removed ALTQ, but the other BSDs still use it. With- and without-ALTQ scenarios are covered every place it applies. You’re going to get the most mileage out of an OpenBSD setup with it, though.

The parts where the book shines are the later chapters; the descriptions of greylisting and spamd, the traffic shaping notes, and the information on monitoring pf will be useful for most anyone. It’s quite readable; similar in tone to Peter’s blog. If you enjoy his in-depth online articles, the book will be a pleasant read.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/29/15312.html/feed0In Other BSDs for 2014/12/20http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/20/15258.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/20/15258.html#commentsSat, 20 Dec 2014 13:43:52 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15258I sort of lost a day this week because of an accidental 20-hour workday, but I still have the links:

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/20/15258.html/feed2BSDNow 068: Just the Essentialshttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/19/15271.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/19/15271.html#commentsSat, 20 Dec 2014 01:55:34 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15271BSDNow 068 has a large number video links to various BSD conference videos, a bunch of other article links,, and an interview of Michael W. Lucas about his new FreeBSD Mastery: Storage Essentials book.
]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/19/15271.html/feed0In Other BSDs for 2014/12/06http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/06/15180.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/06/15180.html#commentsSat, 06 Dec 2014 14:07:03 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15180I have been building up quite the variety this week.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/12/06/15180.html/feed1Books books bookshttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/24/15131.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/24/15131.html#commentsTue, 25 Nov 2014 03:32:22 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15131I’ve placed an image slider over on the right side of the website; it’s all BSD-related books. Each image is linked to a page about the book where you can buy it. It’s not paid advertising, or perhaps advertising at all; there’s no in-kind benefit. It’s specifically books I think people would find interesting to read, and we’d all benefit by the expansion of the BSD ‘ecosystem’.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/24/15131.html/feed1In Other BSDs for 2014/11/22http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/22/15088.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/22/15088.html#commentsSat, 22 Nov 2014 14:44:38 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=15088I actually got this started early, for once, instead of completing in a panic on Friday night.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/11/08/15007.html/feed1In Other BSDs for 2014/10/18http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/10/18/14901.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/10/18/14901.html#commentsSat, 18 Oct 2014 13:25:21 +0000http://www.dragonflydigest.com/?p=14901Done at the last minute, like always, but surprisingly extensive this week:

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/10/18/14901.html/feed1In Other BSDs for 2014/07/26http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/26/14429.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/26/14429.html#commentsSat, 26 Jul 2014 13:45:56 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=14429Part of this was done while traveling, but still a decent week for links.

Undeadly has a lot of articles written by recent OpenBSD Hackathon participants. Instead of linking to specific ones, I’ll just point you at the site. (undeadly.org can’t tag or search to a summary page.)

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/26/14429.html/feed1Lazy Reading for 2014/07/06http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/06/14286.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/06/14286.html#commentsSun, 06 Jul 2014 13:20:28 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=14286I was out sick for a few days this week (Norwalk virus ain’t fun), and so there’s a whole lot of links to follow.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/07/06/14286.html/feed1Books discounted at O’Reillyhttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/06/23/14237.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/06/23/14237.html#commentsTue, 24 Jun 2014 00:45:50 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=14237O’Reilly is running a 50% off special on a variety of books on electronics, with coupon code WKECTRC. I’m posting it now because it only lasts for this week.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/06/23/14237.html/feed0Webcast to catchhttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/27/14056.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/27/14056.html#commentsTue, 27 May 2014 12:24:30 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=14056Michael W. Lucas is doing a webcast for O’Reilly today, at 1 PM Eastern. The title is “Beyond Security: Getting to Know OpenBSD’s Real Purpose. You can also get his “Absolute OpenBSD” book, 2nd edition, for 50% off with the coupon code DEAL. I think that’s a today-only offer, so jump on it now.
]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/27/14056.html/feed0Book sales todayhttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/06/13932.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/06/13932.html#commentsWed, 07 May 2014 00:47:22 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=13932It’s Day Against DRM, and O’Reilly and No Starch Press are having significant sales on – of course – DRM-free ebooks. That represents a good slice of the BSD-centric books out there.
]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/05/06/13932.html/feed0In Other BSDs for 2014/02/15http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/15/13355.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/15/13355.html#commentsSat, 15 Feb 2014 14:11:01 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=13355Lots of links, yet again.

Michael W. Lucas intends to have more BSD books out this year – at least 2. He goes into great detail on his plans. He hints at other authors with material on the way.

BSD-linked Twitter accounts. I like finding accounts of individual developers, so you can see what projects people are working on. (plz suggest)

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/15/13355.html/feed0eBook sale for 48 hourshttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/07/13316.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/07/13316.html#commentsFri, 07 Feb 2014 15:01:53 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=13316Michael W. Lucas is selling his work at a temporary discount during NYCBSDCon, which means you have today and tomorrow to get 3 books (Sudo Mastery, DNSSEC Mastery, and SSH Mastery) for $20 total, $7 less than normal. Head to his site to get the coupon code. He’s speaking at NYCBSDCon tomorrow, too – you should go.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2014/02/07/13316.html/feed0Book Review: Perl One-Linershttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2013/12/04/12932.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2013/12/04/12932.html#commentsThu, 05 Dec 2013 03:05:14 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=12932No Starch Press noticed that I keep talking about Michael W. Lucas’s BSD-related books, and I’ve linked to Peteris Krumins’s catonmat site before, so they sent a copy of Krumins’s new “Perl One-Liners” book to me.

Here’s the hook for me: Perl was the first language I wrote a program of any real use in. Years ago, I had the Perl Cookbook. It was a pretty simple formula, where I’d have a problem. I’d look it up in the Perl Cookbook. If there was already a recipe that matched what I needed, I was set. I ended up having to stuff the book into a binder because the spine broke.

This reference is essentially what the Perl One-Liners book is, though this is less about programming and more about the solution you need right now. The book realizes this and it’s laid out like a menu. Flip through the index to find your problem, and then type the answer. The book even includes a link to a text file that you can copy down and grep for answers – I won’t link to it because it’s not mentioned on the author’s page, though he does include example chapters.

It’s not about learning Perl, and it’s not about technique – these are one-liners, after all. If you are doing the sort of thing Perl excels at, like text mangling, this will be a book full of tools for you. I think the author is going to continue in this style; he’s done a lot of one-liner articles and even some previous e-books.

Probably a good idea to make this disclaimer: As with other books, I get no reward for this review, unless you count me having another book in the house. That’s more of a problem than a benefit for me.

]]>http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2013/12/04/12932.html/feed0OpenBSD talk at Michigan User Grouphttp://www.dragonflydigest.com/2013/11/13/12783.html
http://www.dragonflydigest.com/2013/11/13/12783.html#commentsThu, 14 Nov 2013 03:56:14 +0000http://www.shiningsilence.com/dbsdlog/?p=12783This appears to be all audiovisual media week, because author Michael W. Lucas gave a talk at the Michigan Users Group about OpenBSD (he’s qualified), and it’s up now in twoparts. He describes it as:

“Among other things, I compare OpenBSD to Richard Stallman and physically assault an audience member.”